User:Kathleenmoran2/Post Secondary Transition for High School Students with Disabilities

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MY EDIT: The Post Secondary Transition For High School Students with Disabilities refers to the ordinance that every public school district in the United States must provide all students with disabilities ages 3 through 21 with an individualized and free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. President Gerald R. Ford established this right when in 1975 he signed Public Law 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA). Parents of children with disabilities and other advocates hailed EAHCA as the "education civil rights act" for their children. Public education gives students with disabilities the opportunity to succeed in life. Specific language on transition was included in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990, and again in the IDEA Amendments of 1997. Special education programs in public schools within the United States receive several different funds through federal and state levels to support the programs.

Push-in Vs. Pull-Out Services in Special Education
Push-in vs. Pull-out services in Special Education is the way the services are presented at an IEP or 504 meeting and the action of putting your child into them. The law of "Get'em in" to "Get'em through" and now "Get-em ready!" was intended to improve understandings of the needs of students with disabilities. Otherwise known as pull-out and push-in services is to to open the doors of publics schools to students with disabilities and the services.Pull-out services means specialists that work closely with students outside the general education classroom like instructional support or related services provided in small or individual settings. Some examples include speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling and reading specialist groups. Push-in services means specialists who work closely inside the general education classroom. Some examples include inclusive education where there is a special education teacher, general education teacher, and others working together like therapists, paraprofessionals, general education students and specialists. Working collaborator together in the classroom provides the students opportunities in general education, inclusively. Pull-in helps students not miss any opportunities in the classroom. Pull-out services can create good opportunities for students who need more one-to-one services but the student can miss out on full class engagements. The overall intent of the law changed over time in keeping with increasingly improved understandings of the needs of students with disabilities. The purpose to get students in services in and out of the school so the ability of life skills is increased.

Further Underscores Transition
MY EDIT: IDEA 2004 builds upon the amendments and reauthorizations of 1983, 1990, and 1997, clarifies the concept and position of transition, and strengthens the future-focus of special education services. IDEA 2004 indicates one of its purposes is “…to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living…” (author emphasis). The key word “further” emphasizes the direction and purpose and expected results of this special education legislation. IDEA allows students with disabilities to have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in which is "a formal a contract outlining the services and support the school will provide in order for the child to benefit from the educational program". An IEP helps families put their child into the public school system and receive free services during the school day. Some examples of services include, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathologists, Behavioral Specialists, Reading and Writing Specialists and more. An IEP is a formal contract that states the students educational goals, their current academic standings and how the student will participate in the general education curriculum. IDEA allows students with disabilities to be in public eduction from the age of 3 to 21 years old, receiving quality services to improve their academics and unique abilities.

Post secondary transition in IDEA 2004
MY EDIT: When talking about post secondary transition the context is that students with disabilities have their public education and services on their IEP until the age of 21 years old. Post secondary transition under IDEA allows transition services that are designed to the person and their specific oriented process, taken into the account the child's strengths, preferences, and interests including; Instruction; Related services; Community experiences. Unlike the EI services to ECE transition, the high school students only start in the position of receiving entitlements – entitlements to services. The students who leave, whether by graduation, aging out, or dropping out, leave to a condition of possible eligibility for services, with no guarantee by law that they will continue to receive services. One of the consequences, then, is an urgency to help students with disabilities make the most of the time they are in high school, while some funding, at least, is available, to prepare for post high school life. Before leaving high school, parents have to sit down with their child's IEP team and make life decisions that will be supported by the school system till age of 21. These decisions are hard on parents for where the family is going to send their child next whether it be continuing education, employment, community experiences, or maybe all.